Giuliani: If contraception is covered, ‘it’s only fair’ to provide Viagra

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani says that if President Barack Obama’s health care reform law is going to force insurance companies to cover contraception then “it’s only fair” that men are provided with pills to treat erectile dysfunction.

Speaking to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce earlier this week, the surrogate for Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney hinted at the controversy over the Obama’s administration’s mandate that all health insurance cover contraception for women and warned that the “commissars in Washington” could expand coverage even further in the future.

“They get to write the list of what is legally sufficient health insurance,” he explained. “I hate to bring this up because I don’t think Gov. Romney would like me to bring this up, but I will. This is what made health care in Massachusetts three times more expensive than people thought. Because when they sat down to define health insurance, everybody added everything to the list and the cost of health insurance went way up.”

“That’s going to happen on a national level,” Giuliani continued. “And you know an Obama appointed commission is going to cover everything. If you cover condoms, I mean, you’ve got to cover everything, right?”

About the Author

David Edwards has served as an editor at Raw Story since 2006. His work can also be found at Crooks & Liars, and he's also been published at The BRAD BLOG. He came to Raw Story after working as a network manager for the state of North Carolina and as as engineer developing enterprise resource planning software. Follow him on Twitter at @DavidEdwards.